Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Red5 Pro VS Plex

Compare Red5 Pro VS Plex and see what are their differences

Note: These products don't have any matching categories. If you think this is a mistake, please edit the details of one of the products and suggest appropriate categories.

Red5 Pro logo Red5 Pro

Server software designed for ultra-low sub-250 ms latency streaming at scale

Plex logo Plex

Free movies and TV plus all your personal media libraries on every device. Master your Mediaverse.
  • Red5 Pro Red5 Pro dashboard
    Red5 Pro dashboard //
    2025-05-13

Red5 Pro was launched in 2015 to enhances low-latency streaming with WebRTC and other protocol support. It offers 30-day free trial allowing users to explore all the features before buying a monthly or yearly subscription. Red5 Pro's pricing model is designed to meet the needs of individual developers, startups, small and medium-sized businesses, as well as large enterprises. With flexible subscription options, you can choose between monthly or annual billing. Red5 offers discounts based on factors like usage, number of seats, plan frequency, or specific custom requirements. Whether you need a simple solution or a more tailored approach, Red5 can accommodate your needs.

  • Plex Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-22

Red5 Pro

Website
red5.net
$ Details
paid Free Trial $29.99 / Monthly (WebRTC, RTMP, RTSP, HLS, IP Camera. Max 100 connections.)
Platforms
Linux
Release Date
2015 March
Startup details
Country
United States
City
Boston
Founder(s)
Chris Allen
Employees
50 - 99

Plex

Website
plex.tv
Pricing URL
-
$ Details
-
Platforms
-
Release Date
-

Red5 Pro features and specs

  • Real-Time Streaming
    Achieve sub-250ms latency for interactive video experiences like live sports, video surveillance, live events, auctions, gaming, and more.
  • Autoscaling
    Automatically spins up and down server instances to handle fluctuating traffic without downtime.
  • Flexible Deployment
    Run on-premises or in any cloud public or private. Ideal for custom workflows and enterprise-grade control.
  • Protocol Agnostic
    Stream with WebRTC, RTMP, RTSP, HLS, SRT, MPEG-TS, Zixi, WHIP, and WHEP – covering every major use case.
  • Cross-Platform Delivery
    Stream audio, video, and data across all major operating systems including Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android.
  • Developer-Friendly Ecosystem
    Backed by an active community, developer docs, and extensible APIs and SDKs for rapid integration and support.

Plex features and specs

  • User-Friendly Interface
    Plex offers a clean and intuitive interface that is easy to navigate, even for those who are not tech-savvy.
  • Centralized Media Library
    Plex allows you to centralize your media in one place, making it easy to manage and access your videos, music, and photos from a single platform.
  • Cross-Platform Support
    Plex supports a wide range of devices including PCs, smartphones, tablets, smart TVs, and streaming devices, providing flexibility in accessing your media.
  • Remote Access
    Plex lets you access your media library from anywhere, as long as you have an internet connection, making it convenient for users who travel frequently.
  • Live TV and DVR
    Plex offers live TV and DVR functionality, allowing users to watch and record live television shows through the platform.
  • Media Enhancement
    Plex automatically enhances your media by adding metadata like posters, descriptions, and ratings, providing a richer media experience.
  • Plex Pass Features
    Plex Pass offers premium features like offline access, early access to new features, and various premium plugins, enhancing the overall experience.

Possible disadvantages of Plex

  • Subscription Costs
    While Plex offers a free tier, many of its advanced features require a Plex Pass subscription, which can be expensive over time.
  • Complex Setup
    Setting up Plex can be somewhat complex and time-consuming, especially for users who want to host their own media server.
  • Streaming Quality
    The streaming quality may vary depending on the user's internet connection and the quality of the source media, which may not always meet expectations.
  • Limited Free Features
    Some of the most appealing features of Plex, such as offline access and advanced metadata, are locked behind the Plex Pass paywall.
  • Server Requirements
    Running a Plex server requires a fairly powerful machine, especially if you want to stream high-definition content or have multiple users accessing simultaneously.
  • Privacy Concerns
    Some users have raised concerns about Plex's data collection practices and how their personal viewing habits and data might be used.

Red5 Pro videos

Red5 Pro's CEO Chris Allen Talks Real-Time Streaming

More videos:

  • Demo - Red5 Pro + Nomad Media: Caltrans Traffic Monitoring Demo
  • Demo - The Red5 Pro Watch Party Demo

Plex videos

PLEX Media Server Review - What is Plex?

More videos:

  • Review - Free Movies And TV With Plex Review 2020
  • Demo - Plex Review - 🚫WAIT🚫DON'T BUY WITHOUT WATCHING THIS DEMO FIRST🔥

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Red5 Pro and Plex)
Video
60 60%
40% 40
Video & Movies
0 0%
100% 100
Video Platform
100 100%
0% 0
Media Player
0 0%
100% 100

Questions and Answers

As answered by people managing Red5 Pro and Plex.

Who are some of the biggest customers of your product?

Red5 Pro's answer

  • AWS
  • San Diego County Sheriff's Department
  • California Department of Transportation District 7
  • TorkHub
  • Novetta
  • Azzurro HD
  • Soundwhale

What makes your product unique?

Red5 Pro's answer

  • Sub-250ms latency with real-time global delivery
  • Autoscaling clusters for global reach
  • Flexible deployment: on-prem, cloud, or hybrid
  • Multi-protocol & platform support
  • Backed by an active dev community and robust SDKs

Why should a person choose your product over its competitors?

Red5 Pro's answer

  • Flexible deployment: on-prem, cloud, hybrid
  • Highly customizable for unique workflows and apps
  • Transparent pricing with usage-based options for individual developers, startups, SMEs, and enterprises
  • White-glove support from streaming experts, not chatbots
  • Regular updates with cutting-edge features driven by real user needs and industry trends

How would you describe your primary audience?

Red5 Pro's answer

Wide-ranging audience building real-time streaming applications across industries such as live sports, video surveillance, public safety, news and live event production, casinos, auctions, gaming, and religious organizations: - Individual developers - Startups - SMEs - Enterprises

What's the story behind your product?

Red5 Pro's answer

Born from the original open-source Red5 server, Red5 Pro was created to solve the challenge of real-time, low-latency streaming at scale. Built by developers for developers. Evolved from Flash-era origins to power modern WebRTC and mobile streaming. Continuously innovating to meet the demands of interactive, high-performance video and audio applications.

Which are the primary technologies used for building your product?

Red5 Pro's answer

Red5 Pro is built on a robust Java-based architecture optimized for real-time performance.

  • Core server written in Java for stability and scalability.
  • Supports WebRTC, RTMP, RTSP, HLS, SRT, Zixi, WHIP/WHEP protocols.
  • SDKs available for iOS, Android, HTML5, and Unity.

User comments

Share your experience with using Red5 Pro and Plex. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
Log in or Post with

Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Red5 Pro and Plex

Red5 Pro Reviews

We have no reviews of Red5 Pro yet.
Be the first one to post

Plex Reviews

10 Best Kodi Alternatives You Should Use (2023)
Plex is one of the most competitive alternatives to Kodi. With almost the same features, plex is a considerable media player. It is better than Kodi in some ways, like it works on the server-client model. The interface is more robust and better than Kodi. But many features can only be accessed in the premium model.
Source: techdator.net
Reelgood vs. JustWatch vs. Plex: Battle of the streaming guides
Linking from Plex to other apps is also inconsistent across platforms. It doesn’t work at all on Fire TV (even though it did at launch), and I had trouble linking out from Peacock and Paramount+ on a Chromecast with Google TV. Plex’s Apple TV app fared better overall, but linking to Paramount+ content still didn’t work.
Top 10 Best Linux Media Server Software
Unlike Kodi, Plex is not open-source. It does offer a free account for its users. But it also offers premium pricing plans that allow you to unlock more features and have greater control over your media, while also being able to get detailed insights into who’s using Plex and what they’re using it for.
Source: itsfoss.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Plex seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 653 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Red5 Pro mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of Red5 Pro yet. Tracking of Red5 Pro recommendations started around Mar 2021.

Plex mentions (653)

  • Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (June 2025)
    Location: Connecticut (CT), Hartford Area Willing to relocate: Yes Technologies: React, Typescript/Javascript, Next.js, Tailwind, NestJS, Node.js, Express, MongoDB, Prisma, Jest, Playwright, Docker, Linux, Bash, MUI, HTML, CSS, Git, ... (see resume for more) Résumé: https://christophergeiger.dev/resume.pdf Email: christophergeiger.dev@gmail.com https://christophergeiger.dev https://github.com/christophergeiger3 ),... - Source: Hacker News / 4 days ago
  • Ask HN: Who is hiring? (April 2025)
    Location: Hartford, CT, USA Remote: Yes Willing to relocate: Yes Technologies: React, Typescript/Javascript, Next.js, NestJS, Node.js,Express, MongoDB, Prisma, Jest, Playwright, Docker, Linux, Bash, HTML, CSS, Git Résumé/CV: https://www.christophergeiger.xyz/resume.pdf Email: christophergeiger.dev@gmail.com Website: https://christophergeiger.xyz Hello, I'm a fullstack engineer who specializes in building intuitive... - Source: Hacker News / 2 months ago
  • Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (March 2025)
    Https://plex.tv Currently I'm seeking a frontend or full-stack role as either a mid-level or senior developer. - Source: Hacker News / 3 months ago
  • Setting Up The Home Lab: Terraform and Cloud-Init
    You might notice that the Terraform template definition is pretty close in structure to the one I used in my last article. That's intentional - I set up the last one with cloud-init, but didn't do much with it. This one actually provisions the VM with cloud-init. You can also use Ansible playbooks to provision a VM, and I might talk about that in a future post, but in my next post I'm going to talk about doing... - Source: dev.to / 11 months ago
  • Apple Buys DarwinAI Ahead of Major Generative AI Updates Coming in iOS 18
    It's not for everyone but I've never been happier with OpenAudible [0] + Plex [1] + Prologue [2] [0] https://openaudible.org/ [1] https://plex.tv/ [2] https://prologue.audio/. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Red5 Pro and Plex, you can also consider the following products

Ant Media Server - Scalable, Ultra Low Latency & Adaptive WebRTC Streaming Ant Media Server provides Scalable Ultra-low latency (0.5 seconds) Adaptive Live Streaming with WebRTC. It supports RTMP, RTSP, Zixi, SRT, LL-HLS,LL-DASH,WebRTC, Adaptive Bitrate and recording.

Jellyfin - Jellyfin is a personal media server.

MistServer - MistServer is a lightweight, open-source multistandard multimedia server.

Stremio - Watch videos, movies, TV series and TV channels instantly.

Kurento - Kurento is an open source software development framework providing a media server written in C/C++...

Kodi - Kodi is an award winning free and open source media player that got its start on the Xbox console.